


Piece of Cake

by mkhhhx



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Professors, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Slice of Life, This is mostly just softness and sappiness, ungodly amounts of coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25512517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: “Doyoung, Kim, literature.”“Taeil, Moon, biophysics.” The man gives him a firm handshake.“You were right” Doyoung says, attempting to start conversation, “That e-class system. It is a bit...bullshit.”Taeil positively beams.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Moon Taeil
Comments: 22
Kudos: 91





	Piece of Cake

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This has been sitting in my wips for quite some time and I'm very happy to finally release it to the world. It's unbeta-ed and although I proofread I'm sure some mistakes have slipped so I apologise in advance :')
> 
> This is also kind of a prologue for a longer kunten fic I'm planning/writing and hope to share by the end of summer (but we'll see).
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“This is bullshit”.

Doyoung glances at the source of the noise, the man sitting right next to him. He doubts anyone else heard him in the auditorium, it was nothing but a whisper, really, but Doyoung did and he makes a small “shush” sound at him, complete with a finger on his lips and all. The man smiles back sheepishly and shakes his head getting comfortable on his chair and seemingly dozing off. Doyoung stares at him in annoyance for a couple seconds before his attention is back to the front of the room. 

It’s an important day: orientation. Orientation for new professors. It’s a big university and with new majors and minors launching that year there is a handful of new, freshly hired, professors. When Doyoung graduated he never though he’d end up as a lecturer at the same university but life works in strange ways.

The staff orientation was spread out over the span of five days. They started with a campus tour to warm up (not that Doyoung needed it, everything was exactly where he left it) and the next days were spent attending presentations covering pretty much everything from the university’s rich history to an extremely detailed lecture about rules and regulations regarding their job obligations and behavior on university grounds.

Currently they’re getting into the specifics of how the e-class works and Doyoung can’t help but think it’s way more complicated than it should. Maybe, as his new co-worker phrased it, it really is a bit of “bullshit”. But of course as a new professor he can’t do much but comply with the rules.

There’s a break for coffee and snacks before the next -and last- presentation starts, professors running to the entrance hall where the buffet is set, happy with the prospect of free food and getting some caffeine into their systems.

Doyoung makes himself some tea because a second coffee in the span of four hours would be too much that early in the semester. He picks some cookies on a small paper plate and walks outside to enjoy the autumn breeze. He recognises a few familiar faces, staff members from his own department, people he chatted with the previous days, some who recognised him first, interested in his book. He exchanges pleasantries and small talk but still ends outside, at the little yard-like space in front of the building. The campus is still empty two weeks before the classes commence and he tries to imagine how it’ll be once the semester starts. Probably too loud for his liking, but he always knew he wanted to work in an academic environment, so he has to bite this bullet. He fishes his phone from his pocket to check some messages and aimlessly scrolls up and down for a while while sipping his tea.

“Hey” a soft voice draws him from his thoughts, “I figured that it’d be rude to interrupt orientation and then not even introduce myself.”

The man from the auditorium is there, a few steps away with a blinding smile. Doyoung laughs a bit, extending his hand. If there’s one lesson he’s learnt in his career so far is that meeting new people is almost as important as being a good professional.

“Doyoung, Kim, literature.” The man gives him a firm handshake. He’s shorter than Doyoung, but not as bony.

“Taeil, Moon, biophysics.” the man says taking a step closer, as if he was afraid Doyoung wouldn’t want him near at first. Doyoung knows he can be a little awkward or cold initially, but he isn’t half bad on the whole socialisation thing.

“You were right” Doyoung says, attempting to start conversation, “That e-class system. It is a bit...bullshit.”

Taeil positively _beams_.

“And here I thought this would be the worst first impression ever.” Taeil says, looking at his leather and silver wristwatch, probably more out of habit than to see the time.

Doyoung doesn’t really know why he’s worth impressing, even more by a staff member from another department so he ignores that part and asks Taeil if it’s his first time teaching instead.

“Yeah, but not really.” Taeil shakes his head, sipping coffee between words. He’s a slow talker and Doyoung kinda likes it. “I’ve given a lot of lectures as a guest, lots of stuff like that, you know, but this is my first permanent position.” He smiles looking down and Doyoung knows that look. It’s the “I made it” look. He’s seen it on people’s faces when they finish their doctorate presentations, on people coming out of interview rooms with triumph, on the mirror when he was getting ready for his first orientation day as a professor. “What about you?”

“Mine too” Doyoung says. Taeil looks close to his age, they’re both pretty young compared to most people around and maybe that’s why Taeil decided to approach him instead of finding someone to talk about atoms or whatever. “I’ve been working on my book and taking smaller job opportunities here and there”. And at some point he figured he was old enough to seek something permanent, the back on forth between multiple part-time or hourly paid jobs exhausting despite the variety and thrill.

“I’d love to hear everything about your book sometime” Taeil says, “but I think for now we should head back inside and be done with all this training thing.”

Doyoung nods, downing the rest of his lukewarm tea and stuffing the last cookie into his mouth. He follows Taeil back inside, his bag left at his seat, minus his wallet, keys and phone that were always on him.

There is a different presenter now and Doyoung recognises him as Jung Jaehyun. They met at a conference a couple years back but Doyoung doubts Jaehyun remembers him. To his right Taeil is already sprawled on his seat, his small frame drowning in the plush velvet cushions framed by wooden armrests.

Doyoung, although mildly bored does his best to pay attention. Jaehyun is a way better presenter than the previous one, directing questions to the audience and having his points organised neatly on his presentation unlike the previous person who had just copy pasted horrid big chunks of text.

It feels like he’s dozed off for only some seconds but then they are done, people leaving the auditorium in small groups and chatting lively, a few from the Linguistics and Literature department even trying to chat up Jaehyun himself.

“Too many rules I’ll have forgotten in the next three and a half days” Taeil says walking next to him outside and Doyoung represses the need to mention that everything is uploaded at the university’s webpage and Taeil should go through them carefully and instead chuckles softly.

“I have the car parked underground” he says, not sure where Taeil is heading, “can I drive you home, or you have a car?”

“I’ll just walk” Taeil replies and Doyoung thinks he has extra nice cheeks, soft, “see you around?”

“See you around.” Doyoung gives a small wave before digging into his pocket for his car keys.

Doyoung, a little after orientation ends, doesn’t think he’ll see Taeil around anytime soon. They work at different departments, the campus is huge and from their brief interaction Taeil isn’t even using a car so random meetings at the parking lot won’t happen. He just kinda forgets about him for a good one full week which he spends at various coffee shops around campus organising his notes and perfecting his presentations and getting stressed about interacting with students.

The semester starts, campus filled to the brim and Doyoung is doing his best to be the best lecturer possible. And then, by some weird luck or fate, he and Taeil start stumbling on each other in a semi-regular base, all around in and out of campus.

More often than not, they meet at the cafeteria between classes, which makes sense since they have some common teaching hours and subsequently the same breaks in between. Taeil is almost never alone, chatting with some student, sitting together with another staff member, enjoying his cappuccino. Doyoung is, usually, alone. He tries to keep his interactions with his students confined in the classroom or his office hours and when he sees a co-worker he only stays for a brief catch up before getting comfortable at some faraway cafeteria table, squeezing a bit of extra time to work on his material for his next teaching period. Most people respect his obvious need for space and quiet time, except Taeil.

Taeil after the fourth week finds Doyoung and joins him, always alone, always very quiet, working on his own things. They talk, just a bit, maybe share a funny story from class and then, always ten minutes before it’s time for the next period they both get up to walk to their respective classes. Both departments are a good seven minutes walk from the cafeteria. It takes one and a half month for Doyoung to learn Taeil’s schedule by heart and in detail. Especially his breaks.

They meet elsewhere from time to time as well. At the administration building, in front of the basketball fields one afternoon when Doyoung is enjoying his packed lunch at one of the scattered benches and Taeil is apparently jogging after his classes. They meet at the convenience store right outside campus and even at nearby cafes on various occasions. They still don’t share much more than small talk, but Doyoung does enjoy it and by the glint in Taeil’s eyes he knows it’s mutual.

“I have to admit” Doyoung says over a plate of cafeteria food, “I am still not quite sure what biophysics is”.

Taeil makes a little “ohhh!” sound around his mouthful of rice. Doyoung was always fascinated by the so called natural sciences, but not enough to look deep into them. They seemed too intimidating next to his literature and korean and history and poetry books. He knew Taeil taught both physics and biology majors and maybe some first-year engineers too. He’s heard him talking about cells on multiple occasions. But that was it.

“So you know” Taeil starts to explain, animatedly, “like everything else in the world, our bodies comply to physics” Doyoung gives him a nod. Taeil is the kind of speaker that needs little nudges to keep talking. “Everything, from the mechanisms of how we can hear sounds to the way our cells dilate and expand can be explained with physics, everything!” Taeil makes a pause for another spoonful of rice and pork, “my area of expertise is mostly human cells, but I teach everything in that range of things.”

Doyoung smiles as Taeil gives more examples from his class material but he can’t concentrate. For the first time, very suddenly, he has a thought. Something that should have been obvious before, but he never let himself think about it. Taeil is charming, very, _very_ charming when he is talking. Doyoung listens to him for a while, Taeil explaining how the human eye collects light. Doyoung feels something, deep in his stomach. Maybe a tiny, cute, caterpillar. If he isn’t careful it could become a butterfly.

It’s some days later when Taeil asks Doyoung about his book. Sits there, on the wooden chair of the small, off-campus cafe they are huddled drinking hot cocoa. It’s raining outside and Doyoung knows it won’t be long until they get the first snow of the year. They’re both done with their classes for the day and although they usually don’t hang out like that (after uni hours, not by accident), Taeil had messaged him about getting a coffee and Doyoung, despite the midterm exams piling up on his desk hadn’t been able to say no. Looking back, he doesn’t even remember exactly when Taeil’s number sneaked into his contact list, but they’ve been texting back and forth outside work hours for more than a week...maybe two. Doyoung’s little caterpillar is all comfy in its cocoon now.

“I want a signed copy!” Taeil demands, stealing on of Doyoung’s complimentary cookies after eating all of his own.

“Are you that interested in Korean literature?” Doyoung smiles behind his cup. He would never admit it out loud, but he loves Taeil’s enthusiasm and his questions and just how genuinely interested he is, as it’s something hard to find outside his professional circle. He wonders if Taeil enjoys listening to him talk regardless of what he’s talking about.

“I’m interested in anything you want to share with me.” Taeil says, as if it’s this simple, a simple truth to put out there.

Doyoung has kept the question in his mind for some time and he decides it’s a good time to ask.

“I don’t understand why you enjoy hanging out with me that much” he says, softly. There weren’t many people who enjoyed his company for such extended periods of time in the past.

“Well” Taeil cocks his eyebrow, as if he’s about to state the obvious, “you are an incredibly interesting person and I enjoy spending time with you. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.” He pauses, but Doyoung doesn’t say anything. Just stares, because he feels Taeil has something else to say. “Of course that wasn’t the initial reason.”

“What was the initial reason?” Doyoung recalls their first meeting at the auditorium. It wasn’t such an interesting one.

“You’re just so damn pretty.”

Doyoung burns his tongue with chocolate and gets so flustered that Taeil openly coos at him. But it’s okay, everything’s under control. Doyoung can handle his little butterfly just fine.

“Did you know the Hercules Moths undergo metamorphosis in their cocoons and when they come out all they do is mate and die? They don’t even have mouths to eat”, Taeil mutters. They’re occupying one of the large tables at a buzzing cafe, two piles of exams between them, one labelled PHS101 and the other LTR203.

“Didn’t know you were interested in that kind of thing” Doyoung says, barely lifting his head.

“I’m not” Taeil replies, back to marking his own papers now, “Ten was too stressed this morning and started talking about them.”

“Oh” Doyoung says, lifting his cup only to find out he’s out of coffee again. “Hope he feels better.”

“His first years are driving him crazy I think, I asked if he wants me to bring him coffee and he literally growled and stared at his laptop.”

Different people cope with finals in different ways. Doyoung consumes more caffeine in a day than he normally would in the span of a week. Taeil smokes a little but mostly spends his afternoons in the gym sweating the stress off. Doyoung knows because he regularly gets sweaty selfies. Ten, the zoologist who shares his office with Taeil, paces back and forth and gives brief TedTalks about the animal of the day. Taeil always has trivia to share with Doyoung afterwards.

“How many left?” Doyoung stares at the barista. Wonders if one more cup is a good choice or will leave him sleepless like the previous days (the answer is obvious but he ignores it).

Taeil looks at his pile miserably, “too many”.

The problem isn’t really finals. It’s the tight deadlines the university sets to submit the student’s grades. Doyoung as a student was always really impatient to find out his grades. Now he knows the struggle from the other side of things. He decides to get up to stretch and subsequently grab himself his third coffee.

“Can I get you something?” He asks and Taeil gives him a pained smile. Doyoung watches how he scribbles a big “73%” on a paper with his red pen. “You haven’t eaten anything, something sweet maybe?” He knows Taeil likes the place’s cheesecakes, so he has his mind set on bringing him a piece.

“But you’re already here.” Taeil grins and Doyoung, after freezing for only a second -because this kind of thing has become commonplace lately-, ignores him and goes to fetch his coffee along with two cheesecake pieces.

They finish up late, the sun down and the streets illuminated by yellow light from the street lamps. It’s snowing lightly as they walk outside the cafe, backpacks filled with marked exams and heavy with their laptops. Taeil lives close enough to campus and enjoys walking and Doyoung, even though he has parked nearby doesn’t feel ready to say goodbye yet. He feels high on the sense of accomplishment after pulling through so many hours of work.

“Can I walk you home?” He asks and hopes his coat’s collar, raised to protect him from the cold, is hiding his blushing cheeks.

“It’s too cold, you’ll freeze.” Taeil says half-heartedly. “I’ll let you only if you hold my hand.”

And who’s Doyoung to say no?

They walk in silence for a while, fingers intertwined and hands swinging between them. They haven’t done that -hold hands- before, but it comes easily. The roads are empty, most stores already closed. It’s almost Christmas and every corner is decorated with pale fairy lights.

Not many could guess but Doyoung can admit to himself he’s somewhat of a romantic. He binges dramas and sappy romcoms sometimes and even cries a little. He loves waking up early and watching the sunrise, wishes he’d have someone to watch with him. And now, with Seoul buried in white and the snow muffling all sounds, with people shut in their homes for warmth and the prettiest decorations around Doyoung feels it again, the little tug in his stomach, the butterfly. Taeil’s hand is smaller than his own but it’s warm, holding him tight. Doyoung wonders if Taeil is afraid of him slipping in the snow, or leaving. Doyoung doesn’t want to stop holding him, not even when they arrive in front of Taeil’s building.

“Thank you for keeping me company today” Taeil says, taking Doyoung’s other hand into his own and they’re standing face to face, “I’d go crazy doing all that work by myself.”

“Same goes for you” Doyoung whispers, “it was a good day.”

“Let’s do it again soon, then” Taeil takes a small step and Doyoung is still looking into his eyes, “minus the workload.”

“That sounds awfully lot like you’re asking me out on a date” Doyoung smiles. He has admitted to himself he likes Taeil a long time ago. He knows Taeil likes him too. There’s nothing to lose.

“And if I am, would you say yes?” Taeil looks at him with hopeful eyes and Doyoung, involuntarily, finding himself leaning in, so slightly it’s almost unnoticeable, but of course, Taeil notices.

It’s pretty much perfect for the little romantic in Doyoung’s heart. It’s quiet and he can see Taeil’s breathes coming out in little huffs of air. There is snow falling gently around them and there are snowflakes melting on Taeil’s hair. Doyoung decides it’s perfect and doesn’t give himself any space for second thoughts. His movements are slow and calculated. Taeil almost looks hurt when Doyoung frees one hand from his hold and then lights up, Doyoung pulling his own scarf from his mouth and nose and letting it pool around his neck.

“Yes?” Taeil whispers in the small space between then.

“Yes.” Doyoung mutters against his lips before kissing him softly, “yes, I’ll go out on a proper date with you”.

Doyoung’s little butterfly spreads its wings to soar.

Doyoung uses his holidays to relax. He spends a couple of days with his parents, but he’s mostly by himself. By himself and with Taeil. He grabs a coffee with Kun to catch up on their lives one morning and their department head -Jaehyun- takes them all out for drinks one evening. And the rest of his days are filled with shopping, long oversized cardigans and soft hoodies, cooking equipment and notepads. He visits Taeil’s place and Taeil visits his apartment too. They watch movies and cook and drink cheap wine and talk. They decide to take it slow and, in the span of the two holiday weeks, go on two dates, one organised by each. 

Taeil takes him to the Natural History Museum a couple days before New Year’s. They walk leisurely around the exhibits holding hands and Doyoung listens to him talk, asks questions and just...stares at how pretty he is like that. Casual outside his work clothes, thick framed glasses on his nose and his hair a little messy from the wind.

Doyoung, when it’s his turn, takes Taeil out for brunch. They don’t get a lot of chances to hang out at mornings when they have classes (and bruncheries are so crowded on weekends) and he finds out that Taeil can eat a stack of pancakes faster than any other person Doyoung has ever had breakfast with. He knows he’s whipped because he finds this, along with every other little thing, completely endearing.

“Ugh” Taeil shrugs and he looks like he’s a toddler about to throw a tantrum. Doyoung pats his head and lets him burrow at his side. “Don’t wanna go to class tomorrow.”

“I’m sure your students would love that.” Doyoung laughs. They were supposed to be watching a show, but it’s long forgotten, the dread of soon having to deal with sleepy and grumpy young adults at their morning classes looming over them.

“Wanna stay here.” Taeil mutters, face muffled by Doyoung’s hoodie. Which was actually Taeil’s hoodie, red and overworn, but Doyoung stole it to wear at home.

“Here?” Doyoung points at the very couch they’re on, “at my house?”

Taeil nods, “cuddle and kiss and have candlelit dinner”.

“We can do that every other weekend” Doyoung hugs him. They must be careful around university. There aren’t any rules against staff dating, but the last thing they want is becoming the whole student body’s hottest gossip. Now that Doyoung knows how cuddly Taeil is, it’s difficult to go back to an environment where he won’t be able to at least hold his hand.

“Are we like...” Taeil starts, fingers trailing on Doyoung’s chest, “we’re like boyfriends now, right?”

“I think we can try that” Doyoung turns his head to kiss Taeil’s cheek, “boyfriends.” It sounds good, it sounds like the natural thing to be.

The period after Christmas is pretty much the same with the one before with the exception of the hellish first week when everyone, both students and staff, are completely out of it because of the holidays. They soon fall back into rhythm again.

Doyoung was a little scared at first. He always wanted to teach, but what if he didn’t like it? He wanted to be a good professor, wanted his students to look up to him and maybe see themselves in some years. He wanted to be a positive influence in that small part of their lives he occupied. He eventually found out he loved it. He loved sharing his love with the world in this way, getting the interaction his book could never offer him.

He always gives a lot of space for his students to talk in his class and it seems to work wonders. His feedback is good, students look for him between classes and in his office to chat about this or that, one even asking if Doyoung would take thesis students under his mentorship, something he didn’t feel ready to do just yet, but maybe in the following year. With a big chunk of the department professors being much older Doyoung assumes many students found comfort in him being closer to their age. Jaehyun wasn’t much older either, but he only taught a few classes and occupied himself with department issues and post-graduate students.

And even though everything was pretty much perfect, Taeil managed to make it even better. It was the little things. Waiting outside his classroom right after his class and making silly faces through the glass panel until Doyoung notices his students staring at the door and laughing. Bringing Doyoung coffee at his office hours and kissing his cheek when they were alone. Doyoung was sure Ten knew what was going on, but was too preoccupied with his animal of the day or his demon first years to spare them a comment. Maybe they weren’t exactly so subtle.

By the first hints of spring, they are still together, three months after their first kiss in front of Taeil’s apartment building. Doyoung has had his fair share of relationships, serious and not, through the years and he knows Taeil did too. And he knows just three months isn’t that much of a time, but he does feel like maybe he’s getting ready to settle down, whatever that might mean.

In practise it means many things, many tiny things being added to the list every day. Holding Taeil’s hand a little tighter, kissing him a little harder, like he’s missed him in the few hours they go without seeing each other. And then there’s a drawer with Taeil’s sweats and tees in his bedroom and a second toothbrush in his bathroom. And some weeks he spends more time in Taeil’s house than his own. And maybe sometimes he daydreams about raising a puppy together, but he’s not gonna tell that to Taeil, not yet.

“I think people are talking about us”. Taeil says instead of his usual greeting as he sits opposed to Doyoung with what seems like a massive chicken sandwich in his hands.

“I’m sure they do.” Doyoung answers, sipping his coffee. It’s 7.38, the cafeteria still peaceful and quiet before the 8am morning rush. “Sending flowers to my office for valentine’s wasn’t very subtle, you know.”

“Do you mind?” Taeil says, more serious than he was the moment before.

Doyoung never liked too much attention on him, but he also basked in Taeil’s affection. In public they were always more than decent and the rest was nobody else’s business.

“We just have to be careful” he says, too early for his mind to come up with anything better, “news travel fast around campus, that is all.”

“Okay” Taeil says. Doyoung knows what the root of this is. That Taeil isn’t as invincible as he wants others to think.

“Taeil” Doyoung leans on the table to get closer and talk lower, “love”.

“Yes?” Taeil says, his voice a little strained. Doyoung knows they both want their relationship to be as smooth as it can be and overstressing over it isn’t gonna make it work any better.

“We aren’t doing anything bad, people know, of course they will know, we are always at the cafes or at the flower shop or at the stores around the campus, our students work there. As long as we don’t create any problems, and I’m sure we won’t, I’m nothing but proud to show you off to the world.”

Taeil smiles, his crooked, silly, very much lovestruck, smile. Doyoung has a feeling he’s gonna be receiving many more flowers the next days.

Doyoung is finding out new things about Taeil every day. He likes cuddles but he gets stressed when they are in public. He loves big, fancy acts of love, but steps down with the first hint of the possibility of being disappointed or not well received. Doyoung used to be more up tight in the ways he gave and showed love, used to keep to himself and not let anyone see him in any state of vulnerability. But he’s past that stage now, he knows his relationship with Taeil is a gift and he tries his hardest to enjoy every moment, rationalise his fears, bring them on the table and overcome them. He basks in Taeil’s presence, in his wide smiles and lively eyes and the way he makes Doyoung feel special with the simplest words or smallest touches.

Taeil looks the happiest when he’s around Doyoung as well, when he waits at the corridors and pulls silly faces, when he dresses up for a date and then dresses down when they return home. And soon the spring is at full, the flowers around the campus gardens are blooming and Doyoung’s second pillow always smells like Taeil’s aftershave. He figures that at some point he should let Taeil know how deep in love he feels. He isn’t scared, because in the span of the previous months there wasn’t a single moment when his feelings weren’t reciprocated at the same or a bigger degree.

“It’s you” Doyoung says, feeling especially sappy. Taeil kisses his cheek, tucked by his side.

They’re at Taeil’s apartment, sitting on the huge armchair by the window, watching the moon climb up the sky. It’s a Friday night, they’ve had a big dinner, drank some wine and Doyoung feels like it’s a good time. He is caressing the short hair by Taeil’s neck, which always calms him down, almost makes him purr.

“It’s me!” Taeil says, delighted, nosing on Doyoung’s neck.

“I love the moon so much.” Doyoung continues, looking up at the sky. There’s too much light pollution to see the stars, but the moon is a blessing of its own.

“You do?” Taeil asks and Doyoung can hear the smile in his voice.

“In fact” Doyoung turns to him, close enough to kiss his nose, “I love my Moon so much too.”

“You do?” Taeil repeats, lower, voice the tiniest bit shaky and for a moment Doyoung is afraid he’s gonna make him cry, but Taeil doesn’t.

“I’m so in love with you.” Doyoung confirms, kissing Taeil’s temple.

Taeil says it back, in a voice barely heard, but he does. And then he climbs on Doyoung’s lap and says it again, repeats it until Doyoung can hear the shy “I love you”s and nothing else, Taeil’s voice muffled by kisses, his fingers rubbing circles on the soft skin underneath Doyoung’s shirt and suddenly the armchair is too small for them, but they don’t really notice or care.

Doyoung knows he will remember that night, the room illumined by the moon and the lights of the city, Taeil a sweet weight on him, moving slowly, fluidly as they kiss, only their little sounds disturbing the peace. They start undressing right there, Doyoung’s lips sloppy on Taeil’s neck, his hands firm as he pushes him higher on his lap, closer, as close as they can get.

“Bed?” Taeil mutters between kisses, a little disoriented and Doyoung can feel how turned on he is, “bed, Doyoungie” he repeats until they untangle, walking the torturous few steps to the bedroom, falling on the bed and rolling around, creaking mixed with laugher as Doyoung tries to get out of his jeans and only succeeds after Taeil offers a helping hand.

The next morning Doyoung wakes up on a familiar bed, muscles aching. He’s sure Taeil must be at a similar state of soreness. He closes his eyes again, recalling it’s Saturday. He has nowhere to be, nothing to do, nothing except dote on his boyfriend.

He can hear Taeil in the kitchen, singing some ballad in his wonderful voice. Doyoung was always the one to wake up earlier out of the two, but the good kind of exhaustion is holding him down on the mattress. He wonders if a breakfast in bed is being planned, but he’s too impatient to find out. So he gets up, wears the first shirt he finds when he opens the closet and walks barefoot to the kitchen, Taeil squeaking happily when he feels his boyfriend hugging him from behind and muttering a husky “good morning”.

“You’re a thief!” Taeil says later, when Doyoung picks a pancake from the neat stack by Taeil’s side on the counter and leaves him hugless in search of coffee.

He lets Taeil steal as many kisses as he wants later, so he supposes they are even. 

“Not saying my students are dumb, but sometimes they are just...dumb.” Doyoung slides back on his chair holding his coffee close to his chest. It’s already too late for caffeine, but even later in the night to last without it. Taeil looks up at him in understanding. They were supposed to hang out, have a nice dinner, watch something, but Doyoung had severely underrated how long grading assignments would take him. Taeil knowing the struggle and having been in that same shitty position before was curled at the other end of his couch, headphones on and scrolling on his phone, for which Doyoung was thankful. Taeil had eventually become a kind of comforting presence, marking and designing exams and logging grades a little more bearable when they were together, time passing a little faster.

“Are you gonna teach summer courses?” Taeil asks, one headphone out when Doyoung visibly gives up, pushing his papers aside.

“Think so” Doyoung crawls to him, flopping on Taeil’s lap, “I don’t have anything better to do and the money is decent”. Taeil, unbothered by the sudden lap intrusion, caresses Doyoung’s hair that has gotten a little too long.

“I’ll stay too, just two courses.” Taeil says burying his head on Doyoung’s shoulder. Doyoung knows they’re both tired, but not relaxed enough to move to bed and actually get some sleep.

“Wanna go somewhere together?” Doyoung had thought about it before. They’ve barely even met out of campus’ vicinity and their own neighbourhoods. He imagines Taeil to be a great travel buddy.

“Let’s go to the sea” Taeil presses a kiss on Doyoung’s shoulder, above his shirt, which is actually one of Taeil’s oversized shirts, “we can book a place and go swimming and fishing and relax”.

“I knew you’d be the fishing type” Doyoung laughs and Taeil wraps his hands around his waist.

“What does this even mean!” Taeil starts tickling and Doyoung tries to escape, but not really.

“Your version of relaxing is doing old people’s things together” Doyoung explains, and before Taeil has a chance to whine, which he’d definitely do, Doyoung kisses the corner of his mouth because of the weird angle, “I love it”.

Taeil goes pliant against him, making a tiny cute sound. “You can come meet my parents and brother too, if you want.” Doyoung adds and Taeil just hugs him tight, muttering something along the lines of “I’d so love to”.

Doyoung stays still. He knows Taeil had a lot of morning classes, office hours afterwards and even cooked dinner for them. He is falling asleep, obviously uncomfortable with half a Doyoung on top of him, but neither makes any effort to move. They know they’ll be sore the next day, unable to get comfortable on their office chairs, but it’s worth it. Those few moments right before falling asleep and after waking up, when one is tucked in the couch and the other about to fall off, when it’s warm and it smells homey, when Taeil is the first thing Doyoung sees after opening his eyes, it’s all worth it.

Somehow, the spring semester finals are way worse than the autumn ones. Maybe because summer is approaching and everyone wants to be done with exams and out, maybe because generally harder courses are held at the second semester of the school year. Whichever the case, it’s straight out hell.

Doyoung knew their honeymoon period would eventually end, but the timing was bad. He was moody, Taeil was moody even if he tried to keep to himself, which pretty much made things worse. Doyoung had never heard his office phone ring that much and Jaehyun was seen running up and down the faculty corridors attending meetings and taking care of work for most of the day. Things at other departments weren’t much better, Taeil sending him a video of Ten talking to himself for a good five minutes while grading, biting the cap of his pen to its demise.

It’s not like they fight, they’re both too level-headed to do anything more than some light bickering to let off steam. But they are tired and unable to do much out of work and nights are spend on Doyoung’s big kitchen table in between piles of exams instead of their usual cafes and parks and making out on couches. Along with the heat it doesn’t take long to become unbearable and Doyoung counts down the days until the school year is over.

“Baby” Taeil shakes him out of his thoughts one morning. Doyoung is working in his office, thus Taeil shouldn’t be there, but he had let himself in with some coffee and cookies, “I know you woke up late and haven’t eaten”. On the few occasions they don’t wake up together, they message each other good morning, even when they are about to see each other after a few hours. Doyoung was extra late that day, hoping his students would be more interested in their final than his bed-hair.

“You’re an angel” Doyoung sips coffee, not even taking the cup from Taeil’s hands first, “I love you.” He looks up, so happy to see the familiar sight of Taeil’s sparkly eyes. “You have your last exam in twenty.”

Taeil nods, drinking his own coffee. Doyoung had one more exam the next day, then a ton of grading and then they’d be completely free, at least for a couple weeks until the summer courses would start.

“Made the exam extra easy” Taeil smirks, “I don’t want to see any of them in my classes again.” And they both laugh, because they know how it is. Students are difficult to handle and get even worse when the professor is young and when they realise it’s one of their first times teaching. Doyoung tries to be strict, but he knows Taeil doesn’t really have it in him, because even when he’s trying to be firm the softness spills out. Doyoung himself, out of the hundred or so students he had to deal with would only work again happily with only a dozen. Yet both his and Taeil’s feedback from the classes have been more than decent so they must be doing this whole thing right.

The finals drag long, as long as they possibly could in Doyoung’s opinion, but summer eventually comes around and the season takes a new meaning for him. Compared to the fall and spring semesters the summer classes seem like leisure. Way less students to deal with and very few teaching and office hours. The pay is obviously much less, but Doyoung makes ends meet just fine and has what seems infinitely more time for Taeil, along with his other interests (mostly Netflix).

They arrange several short trips and then a weekly mid-August escapade and it’s probably the chilliest Doyoung has found himself in his whole adult life. Taeil has that effect on him, even more without their usual added responsibilities. They don’t do fancy things. They swim a lot, drink beers, gossip about students and staff and even have dinner with Doyoung’s family, which goes exceptionally well.

And somewhere after Taeil teaches him how to fish and before Doyoung realises he’s out of tank tops because Taeil stole them all the new semester is about to start bringing the one year anniversary of the first time their met, although the date they consider their actual anniversary is close to Christmas.

They don’t have to partake in orientation week anymore, but they still pass by the auditoriums just to steal from the buffet before nesting at their offices to prepare for the new school year.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> You can find me [here](https://twitter.com/kuns_dimples)!


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